Turkey’s jailed rights leader faces trial

ISTANBUL: Turkish civil society leader Osman Kavala appeared on Friday by video link before an Istanbul court on charges that rights groups view as part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s effort to stifle dissent.

The 63-year-old social crusader’s trial comes as the constitutional court mulls whether his detention -- ongoing without a conviction for more than three years -- is lawful. US academic Henri Barkey is being tried in absentia alongside Kavala in a case linked to the 2016 failed coup attempt against Erdogan.

"I have opposed military coups my entire life and have criticised the army’s interference in politics," Kavala told the presiding judge as his wife Ayse Bugra looked on in the courtroom.